At what point should students be able to use transitions linking words to connect their ideas?
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Published on May 29, 2020 by Jack Caulfield. Revised on September 12, 2022. Transition words and phrases (also called linking words, connecting words, or transitional words) are used to link together different ideas in your text. They help the reader to follow your arguments by expressing
the relationships between different sentences or parts of a sentence. The proposed solution to the problem did not work. Therefore, we attempted a second solution. However, this solution was also unsuccessful. For clear writing, it’s essential to understand the meaning of transition words and use them correctly. Transition
words commonly appear at the start of a new sentence or clause (followed by a comma), serving to express how this clause relates to the previous one. Transition words can also appear in the middle of a clause. It’s important to place them correctly to convey the meaning you intend. The text below describes all the events it needs to, but it does not use any transition words to connect them. Because of this, it’s not clear exactly how
these different events are related or what point the author is making by telling us about them. If we add some transition words at appropriate moments, the text reads more smoothly and the relationship among the events described becomes clearer. Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Consequently, France and the United Kingdom declared war on Germany. The Soviet Union initially worked with Germany in order to partition Poland. However, Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. Don’t overuse transition wordsWhile transition words are essential to clear writing, it’s possible to use too many of them. Consider the following example, in which the overuse of linking words slows down the text and makes it feel repetitive. The first experiment yielded a positive result. However, the second experiment yielded a negative result. Nonetheless, the third experiment yielded a positive result, whereas the fourth experiment yielded another negative result.In this case the best way to fix the problem is to simplify the text so that fewer linking words are needed. The first and third experiments yielded positive results, while the outcomes of the second and fourth experiments were negative.The key to using transition words effectively is striking the right balance. It is difficult to follow the logic of a text with no transition words, but a text where every sentence begins with a transition word can feel over-explained. Types and examples of transition wordsThere are four main types of transition word: additive, adversative, causal, and sequential. Remember that transition words with similar meanings are not necessarily interchangeable. It’s important to understand the meaning of all the transition words you use. If unsure, consult a dictionary to find the precise definition. Additive transition wordsAdditive transition words introduce new information or examples. They can be used to expand upon, compare with, or clarify the preceding text.
Adversative transition wordsAdversative transition words always signal a contrast of some kind. They can be used to introduce information that disagrees or contrasts with the preceding text.
Causal transition wordsCausal transition words are used to describe cause and effect. They can be used to express purpose, consequence, and condition.
Sequential transition wordsSequential transition words indicate a sequence, whether it’s the order in which events occurred chronologically or the order you’re presenting them in your text. They can be used for signposting in academic texts.
Common mistakes with transition wordsTransition words are often used incorrectly. Make sure you understand the proper usage of transition words and phrases, and remember that words with similar meanings don’t necessarily work the same way grammatically. Misused transition words can make your writing unclear or illogical. Your audience will be easily lost if you misrepresent the connections between your sentences and ideas. Confused use of therefore“Therefore” and similar cause-and-effect words are used to state that something is the result of, or follows logically from, the previous. Make sure not to use these words in a way that implies illogical connections.
The use of “therefore” in this example is illogical: it suggests that the result of 7.5 follows logically from the question being asked, when in fact many other results were possible. To fix this, we simply remove the word “therefore.”
Starting a sentence with also, and, or soWhile the words “also,” “and,” and “so” are used in academic writing, they are considered too informal when used at the start of a sentence.
To fix this issue, we can either move the transition word to a different point in the sentence or use a more formal alternative.
Transition words creating sentence fragmentsWords like “although” and “because” are called subordinating conjunctions. This means that they introduce clauses which cannot stand on their own. A clause introduced by one of these words should always follow or be followed by another clause in the same sentence. The second sentence in this example is a fragment, because it consists only of the “although” clause.
We can fix this in two different ways. One option is to combine the two sentences into one using a comma. The other option is to use a different transition word that does not create this problem, like “however.”
And vs. as well asStudents often use the phrase “as well as” in place of “and,” but its usage is slightly different. Using “and” suggests that the things you’re listing are of equal importance, while “as well as” introduces additional information that is less important.
In this example, the analysis is more important than the background information. To fix this mistake, we can use “and,” or we can change the order of the sentence so that the most important information comes first.
Note that in fixed phrases like “both x and y,” you must use “and,” not “as well as.”
Use of and/orThe combination of transition words “and/or” should generally be avoided in academic writing. It makes your text look messy and is usually unnecessary to your meaning. First consider whether you really do mean “and/or” and not just “and” or “or.” If you are certain that you need both, it’s best to separate them to make your meaning as clear as possible.
Archaic transition wordsWords like “hereby,” “therewith,” and most others formed by the combination of “here,” “there,” or “where” with a preposition are typically avoided in modern academic writing. Using them makes your writing feel old-fashioned and strained and can sometimes obscure your meaning.
These words should usually be replaced with a more explicit phrasing expressing how the current statement relates to the preceding one.
Is this article helpful?You have already voted. Thanks :-) Your vote is saved :-) Processing your vote... In which grade should students begin using transitional words in their writing?Basic Transition Words for 3rd Graders
In 3rd grade, students work to build off the transition words they learned in 2nd grade by incorporating transitional phrases like "with this in mind" and "even though." They also explore some additional transition word groups.
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What would be the best way to begin teaching students how do you write a sentence Letrs?What would be the best way to begin teaching students how to write a sentence? Explain that a complete sentence has a subject (the naming part) and a predicate (the action or doing/being part).
Which is a best practice for helping beginning writers learn and use different parts of speech?Which is a best practice for helping beginning writers learn and use different parts of speech in their writing? Give students question words (e.g., who, what, how) to associate with each element or part of speech.
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